Plaintiff
- Name: Roy Rios
- Filing date: April 21, 2020
- State of filing: California
Defendant
- Name: Hom Furniture Inc.
- Website: www.homfurniture.com
- Industry: Consumer Goods
- Summary: Hm Furniutre is one of the nation's largest furniture retailers with multiple locations in the Central US. Hom also sells home furnishings and decor via its website.
Case Summary
On April 21, 2020, Roy Rios filed a Complaint in California State court against Hom Furniture Inc.. Plaintiff Roy Rios alleges that www.homfurniture.com is not accessible per the WCAG 2.0 accessibility standard(s).
Case Details
Plaintiff alleges issues in its Complaint including the following:
- Spacer image missing alternative text which presents a problem because a layout spacer image does not have an alt attribute. Spacer images are used to maintain layout. They do not convey content and should be given null/empty alternative text (alt="") so they are not presented to users and are
ignored by screen readers; - Empty or missing form labels which presents a problem because, if a form control does not have a properly associated text label, the function or purpose of that form control may not be presented to screen reader users. Form labels provide visible descriptions and larger clickable targets for form controls;
- Empty buttons, which means that a button is empty or has no value text. When navigating to a button, descriptive text must be presented to screen reader users to indicate the function of the button;
- Empty links which present a problem because a link contains no text. If a link contains no text, the function or purpose of the link will not be presented to the user. This can introduce confusion for keyboard and screen reader users;
- Broken ARIA references, which presents a problem because an aria-labelled by or aria-described by reference exists,
but the target for the reference does not exist. ARIA labels and descriptions will not be presented if the element referenced does not exist in the page; and - Broken ARIA menu, which presents a problem because an ARIA menu does not contain required menu items. ARIA menus are application menus (like those used in software menu) with a specific keyboard interactions. They are NOT for navigation links on a web site and must contain at least one menuitem, menuitemcheckbox, or menuitemradio element
Plaintiff asserts the following cause(s) of action in its Complaint:
Unruh Civil Rights Act, California Civil Code § 51 et seq.
Plaintiff seeks the following relief by way of its Complaint:
- For a judgment that Defendant violated Plaintiff’s rights under the Unruh Civil Rights Act, California Civil Code § 51 et seq.;
- For a preliminary and permanent injunction requiring Defendant to take the steps necessary to make the Website, https://www.homfurniture.com/, readily accessible to and usable by visually-impaired individuals; but Plaintiff hereby expressly limits the injunctive relief to require that
Defendant expend no more $20,000 as the cost of injunctive relief; - An award of statutory minimum damages of $4,000 per violation pursuant to section 52(a) of the California Civil Code; however, Plaintiff expressly limits the total amount of recovery,
including statutory damages, attorneys’ fees and costs, and cost of injunctive relief not to exceed $74,999; - For attorneys’ fees and expenses pursuant to all applicable laws including, without limitation, California Civil Code § 52(a); however, Plaintiff expressly limits the total amount of
recovery, including statutory damages, attorneys’ fees and costs, and cost of injunctive relief not to exceed $74,999; - For pre-judgment interest to the extent permitted by law;
- For costs of suit; and
- For such other and further relief as the Court deems just and proper.
